Banking veteran Bob Wigley has joined the board of Intel-backed blockchain services provider R3 as a non-executive director.
Wigley has chaired trade body UK Finance since 2017. He previously had a 13-year stint at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was Emea chair, and was a member of the Court of the Bank of England.
Wigley becomes the latest politically connected name to make the move into digital assets.
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From 2009 to 2010, he chaired the UK green investment bank commission for then-chancellor George Osborne. Osborne joined the advisory council of crypto exchange Coinbase last month, saying that blockchain is “transforming financial markets”.
Wigley’s digital finance expertise will strengthen R3’s business, it said in a 22 February statement.
“I look forward to working with the team and its customers to continue driving adoption in new geographies and asset classes,” Wigley said.
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R3 raised $107m in a May 2017 funding round with backing from prominent names in financial services including Bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC.
The firm launched a new blockchain-based product suite, R3 Digital Markets, in January 2024 and appointed former CME Group executive Kate Karimson as chief commercial officer.
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David Rutter, R3’s chief executive, said that the firm is working with financial institutions to digitise global markets.
“Bob’s experience in progressing regulated financial infrastructure is crucial as we build the foundations for interoperable regulated networks,” Rutter said.
R3 is seeking candidates for more than a dozen positions across a number of locations. The company is hiring senior blockchain engineers in London and Dublin, according to its LinkedIn page.
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